1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to machines and methods for filling containers moving in a line and particularly to machines and methods for filling a line of moving containers with relatively small pieces of material, specifically material such as vegetables, fruit, and other food items.
2. Description of the Prior Art
My U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,941, issued Sept. 9, 1975, and my U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,326, issued Sept. 16, 1975, disclose machines which are adapted to deliver a flow of food material to containers or other receiving areas as they move in a line. The disclosures of these patents are incorporated herein by reference.
The machine of U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,326 is particularly adapted for evenly spreading particulate or shredded food materials onto the tops of individual receiving items, such as pizza pies. The machine of U.S. Pat. NO. 3,903,941 is intended for general purpose food packing and handles small food items such as fruit, cut or sliced vegetables, and so forth.
Both the product spreading machine and the general packing machine of these U.S. patents are so-called drum-type fillers. In these machines, the food materials are delivered to the interior of an open-ended drum surrounding the container conveyor with the drum axis extending generally in the direction of the path of travel of the containers on the conveyor. The drum is supported for rotation about its axis and is rotated by means of a suitable drive. Buckets or scoops spaced circumferentially around the inside of the drum pick up portions of the material in the bottom of the drum as it rotates and carry the portions to the top of the drum, where the material is released onto a shaker tray for delivery into the containers.
The rotating drum arrangement provides a simple, gentle means for lifting portions of the product from a reserve supply below the path of travel of the containers up to delivery means above the path of travel of the open tops of the containers. The portions of material are distributed substantially uniformly in each bucket along the length of the drum parallel to the conveyor line. When these portions are delivered to a shaker tray which is positioned above the open tops of the containers in the filling zone and is mounted for reciprocal motion in a direction transverse to the line of containers, a uniform distribution of material parallel to the line of containers is maintained. Upon reciprocation of the shaker tray, the material proceeds laterally across the pan and falls over a discharge edge extending parallel to and above the line of containers, the flow of materials over the edge being substantially uniformly distributed along its length.
Despite their many advantages, the rotating drum machines can be difficult to clean and service. The reason for this is that much of the machinery is inside the drum and consequently it is necessary to have access to the inside of the drum for effective maintenance and cleaning. This means removing the cylindrical jacket of the drum and subsequently reinstalling it.
Solbern Corp. of Fairfield, N.J. heretofore has marketed a so-called open-type filling machine for packing pickles into open-top jars. The machine bears the name "High Speed Open-Type Pickle Packer." In this special purpose machine, pickles are delivered to a hopper located near the output end of the machine below and to one side of the container conveyor. A continuous moving belt conveyor carries pickles from the hopper and upwardly along an incline in a direction opposite to the movement of the line of containers through the filling zone. The pickles are discharged from the top of the inclined conveyor onto another moving belt conveyor extending laterally adjacent the input end of the machine above the line of containers. From the second moving belt conveyor, the pickles drop to a third conveyor extending upwards and in the same direction as the line of containers proceeding through the filling machine. The third conveyor terminates in a horizontal portion extending through the filling zone of the machine. Paddle-like rake blades mounted on a transversely moving endless belt above the end of the third conveyor move across the conveyor and push the pickles off the edge onto a vibrating shaker pan. The shaker pan then delivers pickles to the line of jars below the shaker pan in a manner similar to that described for the drum-type fillers.
Any pickles which fail to enter the open tops of the containers drop to still another endless belt conveyor running parallel to and below the line of containers to the outlet end of the machine. There, the returning pickles drop onto a fifth belt conveyor extending transversely back to the hopper. Thus, the open-type pickle packing machine provides a loop of five moving belt conveyors, each successive conveyor extending at right angles to the line of travel of the previous conveyor. All of the conveyors are open and accessible for simple and convenient maintenance and cleaning; however the number of belt conveyors increases the complexity of the machine and the floor space required for the machine.